January 2010
7 posts
Grandpa's iPod has moved!
Grandpa’s iPod has officially moved! You can now find me at
www.grandpasipod.com.
Please come and see me there!
Migration has begun!
I’ve started the migration of this site to a new host. Make sure to point your bookmarks/favorites to www.grandpasipod.com and you’ll make the move smoothly. If you are subscribed to this site via RSS: you will need to subscribe to the new site’s RSS feed as the feed address will change.
As I said before, the podcast and audiofiles will still be hosted in their old locations so...
Technical problems with Tumblr and IE
I apologize for any problems that you might have been having with this blog over the past few weeks. I just learned that Internet Explorer has not been loading the site correctly for some time now. In fact, it still isn’t in at least some cases. I think this is some kind of compatibility issue between Tumblr and IE.
As a temporary fix, I’ve stripped down the formatting of the site to...
Confession time
I haven’t posted much in the last few weeks, and it wasn’t only because of the holidays. I’ve said that the music I post here would be the playlist on my Grandpa’s iPod; well, I also have what would have been the “iPod” itself: a 1946 Presto 64-A studio transcription turntable. It’s the only thing I have for playing the records.
About a month ago, it...
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To Your Good Health, 3-24-44
Here’s another episode of “To Your Good Health from the House of Squibb.” As always, we have the Squibb Orchestra and Chorus of Stars directed by Lyn Murray. Today’s special guest soloist is Audrey Marsh. The program is all music by Vincent Youmans including “Flying Down to Rio,” “More than you Know,” “Orchids in the Moonlight” and...
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More about the Landt Trio
The wonders of the internet! After I posted today’s recording I was able to get in touch with Skip Landt, whose father was part of the Landt Trio. I asked him to share any memories or stories about his father and the group. Here’s what he had to say after hearing this recording for the first time ever.
Most of the talking and joking on this broadcast is my dad, Dan Landt. Hearing the...
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Sing Along with Karl, Jack and Dan; March 27, 1944
Happy New Year!
I’m back with a fun program to start the new year: Sing Along with Karl, Jack and Dan, who were also known as The Landt Trio. This website gives the history of the group along with a catalog of known recordings. There aren’t many.
This program is dated March 27, 1944 for broadcast on WJR on March 28 at 1:00am. Songs include “I Want to be Happy,”...
December 2009
17 posts
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House of Squibb presents To Your Good Health,...
“To help you relax and renew the energy all of us need these days,” here’s a recording of To Your Good Health from the House of Squibb. Lyn Murray directs the Squibb Orchestra and Chorus of Stars, with Hubie Hendrie.
This program includes a medley from the Broadway revival of “The Merry Widow,” (“Girls Girls Girls,” “Veila” and...
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Gus Haenschen's Rehearsal 12-19-1944
Contrary to what this broadcast is called, this isn’t a rehearsal. It’s a program that was produced in Detroit featuring Gus Haenschen and his orchestra. I found a great site that gave a history of Gus Haenschen (Tim’s Phonographs and Old Records), who also went by the name of Carl Fenton until 1927. Here’s the info that’s pertinent to this recording:
During the...
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Howard Smith, 12-16-1944
Today’s recording isn’t Christmas-y, but it was originally recorded on December 16, 1944 for broadcast on WJR on December 17, 1944 at 3:15-3:30am. That seems a suitable time of day for this recording, since (in my opinion) it would make a great cure for insomnia. This just isn’t my favorite style of music.
This is a program of Howard Smith on piano. He was born October 9, 1910...
Podcast now available!
I finally got it all figured out and have set up a podcast! You can:
Subscribe with iTunes
or
Subscribe with RSS
or
Visit my podcast site at CyberEars.com
The podcast will include just the audio file and basic information—for all the juicy details you’ll still need to come here. Audio streaming will still be available here at the blog, courtesy of my bandcamp site. High-quality...
Correction: Christmas 1946
I just found out that “Winter Wonderland” on my Christmas 1946 disc is from Perry Como’s “Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music.” Windows Media Player automagically found it for me when I was sampling my MP3 conversion. Now I feel like I’m being watched somehow.
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Christmas 1946
Edited 12/15, 9:30am: I realized after posting this that there was a long period of silence at the beginning of the audio file. I’ve removed that and reloaded the file.
Today we move ahead a year to the disc my grandpa made for Christmas 1946. Here we have lots of Bing and what I think is Glenn Miller and his orchestra doing Jingle Bells—not sure about that, though. It’s a fun...
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Christmas 1945
I can’t even tell you how excited I am to put this recording up. You see, I didn’t think it was possible. This record is cracked. Not just scratched or delaminating, but cracked all the way through from rim to label. In fact, I think the label is the only thing holding it together.
I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I had nothing to lose, except maybe my stylus. I put the...
Making excuses
Well, I’m realizing I was being a bit overly ambitious when I said I’d try to post new audio every day. Recording and editing is taking longer than I thought it would. Life also gets in the way: Christmas, kids, yadda yadda. So I’m readjusting my expectations. I’m still planning to put up new audio several times a week—my goal is going to be around three files posted...
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"Songs from Joan Brooks," 5-18-1944
Sorry it’s been a few days since my last post. Life got a little crazy over the weekend. But I’m back with another audio file for you!
Today’s recording is a CBS show of Joan Brooks songs, which apparently was broadcast several times each week. The end of this recording is very bad. The lacquer on the disc has cracked, so the last few seconds skipped terribly. If anyone knows a...
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This Life is Mine, 2-16-1944
Here’s some great wartime material. In this episode of the serial drama “This Life is Mine,” Eden felt sure she wanted to marry Bob Hastings. But she was engaged to Paul Warner, who is away in the war. A “Dear John” letter is written to Paul. Starring Betty Winkler in the role of Eden Channing.
Dated 2-16-1944, for broadcast on 2-17-44 at 3:00-3:15am.
Repost: Jeri Sullivan 2/17/44
Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F - reposted
Now you can download, stream or share my audio files! I’ll repost the Jeri Sullivan program as soon as I can.
Improvements are coming!
Welcome to everyone who’s finding this site! Just to let you know, I’m planning to change how I post the audio files so that you will be able to either stream or download, and download in either a compressed or lossless format. I’m planning to do that later today, and also put up a new file or two. But for right now, life calls…
Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, believed to...
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Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F
Today’s upload is something of a mystery. My grandpa had a detailed index of the songs on his records, but these two records were not included. There are no labels on the discs, just grease pencil markings: #1 and #3 on the two sides of the first disc, and #2 on one side of the second disc. The other side of the second disc is blank (which looks pretty cool, btw—a totally smooth, shiny...
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Here’s my first upload, and one of my first...
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And so it begins
I’ve had this collection of records in my possession for many years now. It’s been in three houses (four if you count the time it was stored in my in-laws’ garage) and moved across the country. But I’ve never been able to do much with them. I have the turntable that my grandpa assembled from studio-quality parts, but until about a year ago I couldn’t use it. After...